to use them for the public welfare. It was at particular pains to infuse
a martial spirit among the people; and, influenced by this spirit, and
under the immediate suggestion, and by direct participation, of this
assembly, certain overt acts of treason were committed. The public
armory in Charleston was broken open by night, and eight hundred stand
of arms, two hundred cutlasses, besides cartouches, flints, matches and
other necessary materials of war, were withdrawn without discovery. One
party possessed itself of the public powder at Hobcau; another emptied
Cochran's Magazine, while a third, as above stated, relieved the state
armory of its contents. In all these proceedings, the members of the
Provincial Congress displayed the energies of men, who, having once set
their hands to the plough, have resolved not to be turned away from it.
Under that bolder policy which, by provoking the danger, compels the
timid to a part in it from which they might otherwise shrink in terror,
they were personally engaged in these acts of treason. We may reasonably
conclude that, however silent as a member, Francis Marion was not the
person to forbear taking active part in the more hazardous duties which
distinguished the doings of the body to which he belonged. There was a
generous impulse in his character, which hurried him into performance,
whenever work was to be done, or daring became necessary. He could
approach such duties with a degree of cheerfulness, which to the
ordinary mind, thoughtful only of the consequences and responsibilities
of action, seemed to partake of levity and recklessness. There was,
indeed, an element of playfulness, we had almost said fun, in his
character; a quiet and unobtrusive humor, which enlivened his utterance,
and softened, with a gentle aspect, a countenance that might otherwise
have been esteemed severe. We have no doubt that the native courage, and
the elastic spirit of his temperament made him an active participant
in all those deeds of decision, which the deliberations of the body to
which he belonged, deemed it necessary should be done. We can very
well imagine him conspicuous among those masked and midnight bands,
commissioned to do mischief for the public good, by which the arsenals
were stripped of their contents, and the tea-chests tumbled into Cooper
river.**

* "For St. John's, Berkeley County--James Ravenel, Daniel
Ravenel, JOB MARION, John Frierson, Esqrs., Mr. Gabriel
Gig